Little Scratch

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An image! not my spoon! not my phone! (although I can see that too, an emoji of a pig, which distracts me for a second but oh no I am not letting this go, yes an image, a book Miriam Battye makes her Hampstead debut. Recent credits include Scenes With Girls at the Royal Court, Big Small Lost Found Things at Bristol Old Vic and All Your Gold at Theatre Royal Plymouth. The text seems to be partly autobiographical. Like the narrator, Watson has worked at various roles in her life (as an assistant, waitress, cleaner) where she was at the bottom of the power chain: “I have been screamed at, groped, and patronised in various junior jobs. What has always been clear is that while some enjoy the power, others seem to genuinely believe that the divide in front of them is dictated by God, that hierarchy has a moral, qualitative value.” ( Source) The poetry reading awkwardness is hilarious, but the musings around how to deal with rape are a very ample counterweight, brought in a claustrophobic manner, with thoughts like:

The most original idea I took from the book is that it’s OK for a victim of rape to think in terms that are highly sexual, and passionate. Watson’s language of sex is graphic, assertive and quite a contrast to stories in which rape happens and the victim is left traumatised at the thought of future sex.Reads like the cinders settling in the air after an explosion… daring and completely readable.’ Colin Barrett I get “you” instead of “her” the most. I am asked: “What was it like to put yourself out there?” I don’t know whether that’s loaded, misdirected or simply a question about being a writer in a world that values the public figure. Some exclaim about the honesty of writing “your thoughts”. I’m told I’m “brave”. And yes I am, thank you, but not because I wrote about a character’s fictional trauma. This version of the day-in-a-life book, directed by Katie Mitchell, achieves the same lingering power using a quartet of actors' I’ve had some really moving responses from readers who have experienced sexual assault or rape, thanking me for representing how they feel or what they went through, or a process that they found difficult to verbalise or hadn’t seen written before. I’ve also had responses from male readers saying it made them think about their own past behaviour. Both sides of that are pretty powerful and it makes me feel very proud, but it’s a strange thing to get those reactions. My book, I should make clear now, is a novel. little scratch is a fictional day-in-the-life of a young woman (who, yes, has a boyfriend). Told in the first person, the narrator lives in London and works as an assistant full-time in a newspaper office. The reader inhabits her mind as she goes about her day, getting up, going to work, and cycling to the pub – all while attempting to surmount a trauma that she has yet to fully confront.

Besides hilarious passages right from ordinary live we also get to see how whatsapp forms the main platform for the main character to fret over her relationship with her Him. Maybe people who don’t overthink or find themselves distracted by obsessive-compulsive thoughts may find parts of this book jarring, but I found them comforting and illuminating. A rhythmic and psychological audio experience in which Mitchell plays with artistic control' WhatsOnStage

October 2013

I would look in the mirror (a different sort: toothpaste-marked, pink cup by tap) and hear rising voices